The NFL community was caught by surprise during the first night of the 2022 NFL Draft when the Tennessee Titans traded Pro Bowl wideout A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Just three years after the team selected Brown in the second round in 2019, the top wide receiver on a team that didn’t have depth at the position was gone. The team essentially replaced him with a younger, cheaper version in rookie first-round pick Treylon Burks out of Arkansas.
Once he landed in Philly, Brown quickly agreed to a contract extension worth $100 million over four years. As of now, Brown’s contract has him as the fifth-highest paid at his position in average value per season.
A.J. Brown rips Titans, praises Eagles
While players are up for contract extensions every year, including a few other receivers from Brown’s draft class who recently signed extensions. In hindsight, we can see Brown’s situation was unique to his fellow receivers, but only because Brown was the only one of the quartet who was traded.
- Deebo Samuel – Three years, $71 million – $58M guaranteed
- DK Metcalf – Three years, $72 million – $30M signing bonus, $58M guaranteed
- Terry McLaurin – Three years, $68 million – $28M signing bonus, $53M guaranteed
- A.J. Brown – Four years, $100 million – $23M signing bonus, $57M guaranteed
With Deebo Samuel being the most recent one to sign his extension, Brown quickly took to Twitter shortly after the agreement was announced, basically to call out his former team for being cheap.
“Basically all 4 of us got the same contract and I’m the only one got traded… yeah keep believing it was me. Anywho Go Birds.”
A.J. Brown expresses discontent with Titans
Brown’s clearly suggesting the Titans weren’t willing to pay up. Yet, the other three receivers who were in a similar position as him all got paid by their original teams. Clearly other teams valued Brown, but not the Titans. Now they’re paying the price.
Or maybe not. Maybe it will work out for everyone like the Stefon Diggs trade, where the Minnesota Vikings lucked into Justin Jefferson. Will the Titans be as lucky with Treylon Burks? If not, this will be remembered as a bad trade.
Related: Highest paid NFL players in 2022: Deebo Samuel joins the chat